


there's a song we know

by valkyrierising



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Ninja Steel
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Mutual Pining, vague descriptions of depression but nothing too heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 05:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13606908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrierising/pseuds/valkyrierising
Summary: "I wish we could morph," he says wistfully, taking the screwdriver from her to replace it with the other smaller wrench she points at."Me too," she says. "We should be glad because it means we saved the earth. There are no aliens left. We can just be...normal.""I don't want to be normal," he says, aware that he's petulant and he's not the only one who's feeling like this.





	there's a song we know

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> 1\. set in the summer before Super Ninja Steel  
> 2\. originally titled 5x Brody stole Preston's heart unwittingly and one time Preston stole his  
> 3\. title comes from aqualung's 'to the wonder'

The months in which they don't have their power stars are the saddest he's been in months. He's no stranger to it, known that after his own mother's death he wasn't quite the same and that it took a long time for him to get a little better. But being a ranger made him feel lighter than anything else - doing good made him happy - and to have it be over was heartbreaking. The feeling of pure happiness more than anything he’d felt in years, just to be gone so soon, leaves him cold. He wanted to go back to fighting monsters; he even wished that Madame Odious came back but he knows it’s a selfish want, because his happiness came at the cost of lives being threatened. He mopes silently, takes to hanging in Sarah’s garage 

 

He's there with her today, handing her tools as she disassembles her latest invention to fix a bug. Even though they're not rangers anymore, they find ways to stay together to meet. Brody has years of catching up to do, so do Levi and their dad, that they don't hang out as much as they could. Family to them is important; they'd been taken from each other, lied to, had memories altered over one another that he knows this time is important to them. But he misses hanging out with all of them regularly, beyond them helping him perfect his magic tricks and workshop new ones.

 

"I wish we could morph," he says wistfully, taking the screwdriver from her to replace it with the other smaller wrench she points at.

 

"Me too," she says. "We should be glad because it means we saved the earth. There are no aliens left. We can just be...normal."

 

"I don't want to be normal," he says, aware that he's petulant and he's not the only one who's feeling like this. He knows Sarah liked getting to work with Mick and making things for them to use to fight off Odious' hench-people. Even Hayley and Calvin, who were in a world of their own at times, were despondent at the loss of the stars. It feels a little bit like something's been stolen from them, if he's being honest with himself.  “I miss all of us hanging together, listening to Brody direct us -,” he starts. 

 

"I know. You should talk to the others too. I don't think it's right for you to spend all this time hanging out with me where I just make you hold things and pass things to me." She pouts slightly, smiling at him as she says so.

 

"You're right," he drops the wrench and leaves, even as she calls out after him "Really  _ right  _ now?

 

+

 

He finds them all back at their home, doing flips in the front. Mr. Weston is to the side, watching them and smiling. He wishes he could remember when he and his dad had something similar, where they didn't have his dad's work phone going off during the time they had together. It’s gotten a little better now, but he’s still work-minded.

 

"Hey guys," he calls as he nears the house, three sets of eyes turning to him.

 

"Preston!" Levi and Brody call out, their dad nodding hello.

  
"So glad you're here, now you can decide which one of us can do a better flip. Our dad won't tell us who's doing a better job."

 

"You know I love my kids equally," he cuts in, chuckling as he stands to go into his house. "I'm going to make dinner. Do you want to stay over Preston?"

 

"Sure," he nods, letting himself into the yard as they begin their stunt routines. Levi goes first, his running lead giving him the opportunity to do two flips in the air before he lands to his feet. Brody follows after, also getting a running start but differing in his flip. He uses the momentum of the start how he uses the momentum of the run to twist in the air, his shirt riding up before he lands.

 

"What'd you think?" They ask. Levi's staring intently, like the outcome really matters to him where Brody looks confident.

 

"Brody," he replies without hesitation. Brody beams at him, throwing a hah at his brother who scoffs in response. Grabbing him into a headlock, they laugh and try to break away before Brody does so and runs back to Preston. He throws an arm around Preston, squeezing him as he leads him in. "I knew I could trust you," Brody says cheekily just as he feels himself get warm at the proximity, the smell of pine and mint all around him. He leans into his arm as well, punching Brody back in the arm lightly. Laughing, they enter the house together as Levi mock complains about being left behind. The smell of grilled cheese is in the air as they take their spots around the table.

 

\--

 

When they don't have their ninja stars, they spend a lot of their time doing things with Hayley and Calvin and the ecology club around Summer Cove. It's a lot of cleaning up the trash, planting trees around to promote a healthier environment (but if he's being honest, Summer Cove has a forest nearby that makes it feel repetitive. He doesn’t say anything because Hayley is a force to be reckoned with.) 

 

Today he's at the beach with Brody, kicking sand around as Kody barks and runs around all of them, begging for head scratches and butting against their legs. Hayley whistles for Kody to come to her, kneeling as the dog’s head whips around to make his way towards his owner. 

 

"Show me a trick," Brody asks as he flops down onto the sand, nudging at his leg as he looks around.

 

He takes his deck of cards out of his pocket and shuffles it around, watching as Brody covers his eyes against the sun. He steps forward to block the sunlight as Brody grins, leans to give him the deck of card.

  
"Pick one and don't tell me what it is," he says as he picks a card. He's done this trick a few times, to mixed results; he's touched and shuffled these cards enough times that they have individual creases that make it impossible for him to get accurate guesses, but they're usually specific.

 

Brody looks at the card and holds it to his face briefly, before moving it to his chest. He nods, holding it back to him as he grabs it. He'd have to have a heart as the cards with those suits had the corners pretty dented up.

 

He shuffles the cards around a few more times, watching as Brody leans back onto his forearms and watches as he does so, turning occasionally to answer something the others ask him. When he gets to the badly dented corners, he picks one and pulls it out. He’s not actually sure about this part because he can’t hold it to the sunlight to see if he can make out the shadow of what the card is so. 

 

"Is this your card?" He says, turning a two of hearts at him that he glimpses as he makes it face to him.

 

Brody snorts as he goes, "Unbelievable. That's the one! You're getting good at this dude!"

 

He smiles so bright it hurts him inside, not in a painful way but a way that makes him wish he could bottle that smile and keep it forever. He decides to tackle him on the beach, whistling to Kody to come over and jump onto them. Brody laughs so loud and joyful, something he's noted. He wants to keep making him laugh if he could, make him smile at him, because Brody is like the sun he's currently shielding him from. It makes him feel lighter than he had in a few days. The others laugh as they turn to see them wrestling, joining in on the dogpile as Kody barks enthusiastically at all of them on top of each other.

 

\--

 

In the time of their vacation, they work to help catch Brody up considering most of his time in space meant he wasn’t at school. Mick had taught him apparently, but there were areas he needed more catching up on. Sarah had taken him to giving him a crash course in the science and math classes, while he helped in everything else for the placement tests they were going to give him after checking how he did in the first semester. Levi, on the other hand, doesn't need to go to school considering that he's got the GED already. 

 

Still, he makes arrangements with his agent to let him go to Summer Cove high to look at classes. Preston guesses he's doing it to help them as rangers and keep them all together, considering that their base was the garage and having someone not a student come in and out at all times of the day would be weird. At least when they were rangers, he did have an excuse. Now he just had to attend classes with them but he doesn't look too put out by it. If anything, he's way too excited for school and does his best to help Brody along with the work he and Sarah too. 

 

Brody tells them that aboard the ship, there was more boredom happening to him than anything nefarious. He had all that time to himself that was spent finding intergalactic media that Mick had helped pirate on their illegal station. He asks for Sarah’s help to build him a radio similar to the one Mick had, the three of them working on pieces. Levi’s to the side, strumming a guitar as they toss pieces to each other and watch as Sarah writes furiously in her journal as Brody tells her about the station. Brody beams at him as Sarah begins to shape something in the air, a vague idea of the general shape. His own heart flips a few times as he nods, ducking to cover the heat rushing to his face as Sarah talks out the parts she’ll need. 

 

It’s nice, the four of them together. It almost feels like they were waiting for Mick to call them on the comms to get them to the garage. 

 

\-- 

 

Sarah undertakes a new project once she finishes Brody’s radio that has kept to her garage. He’s in his own house, bored with nothing to do, wondering why he doesn’t go see Brody now. He wishes that he could find ways to hang out with Brody that don’t make him seem weird or clingy, knowing that Brody loves when any of them show up. 

 

He has a weird thing with Brody, in that being in the same room makes his breath go faster and his heart beat like crazy but he doesn't want to leave. If anything, he tries to find more ways. And Brody is - well he's Brody, and he's just so happy at everything, and so strong, he loves when any of them show up. Hayley and Calvin took him on a tour once, as he himself chose to stay behind with Sarah who'd given herself her own tour when she showed up. He doesn’t let himself think on it any longer before he grabs his cards and makes his way to the Weston house. Brody’s in the middle of the yard, lying down and he can hear the faint notes of whatever alien station he’s found now. He taps on the wood gate, watching as Brody props himself up. 

 

“Preston!” He shouts. “Come and listen to this station with me.” He grins in return, watching as Brody doesn’t lie back down until he sees him cross the space from the outside of the gate to Brody’s left side. 

 

“The Andromeda Galaxy has the best music, you have to listen to it.” 

 

What follows is something like white noise, and whooshing of various  _ things  _ \- like when people throw things out of their cars when they think no one is looking. He’d ask more question if Brody weren’t so at peace, his head moving side to side with his eyes closed as he watches him. He’s had crushes before, on Hayley and Calvin, and other people, but they were never like this, didn’t make him feel like the air was taken out of his lungs. He doesn’t know why Brody, if it’s his carefree attitude, or his strong spirit, or his kind words, or, or - he can’t pinpoint it, he just knows that Brody makes him feel happy. He inhales deeply, closes his own eyes as Brody keeps humming. He liked this, the easy quiet between them. He just wishes he could do something about it, if he weren’t so shy, afraid of what he would do. He lets himself think of what he could do if he just turned to his side, got closer to Brody. 

 

Instead, the radio is pushed up ahead as Brody leans closer to him and continues his head movements. He bumps against Preston’s shoulders, once, twice, three times as he opens his own eyes to see Brody’s bright smile. He smiles in return, letting Brody keep doing that. 

 

\--

 

Brody disappears a few days after that, his own shock apparent when he goes to the Weston house just to see their dad working on his forms. 

 

“Hi Mr. Weston,” he says, coming to a standstill as he turns, waving a hand. 

 

“Hi Preston,” he says, continuing his forms. 

 

“Would you know where Brody is?” He asks, leaning against the gate as he feels Mr. Weston send air his way, the slashes he makes very powerful. 

 

“Levi said he took him somewhere to hang out, just the two of them.” 

 

“Oh okay,” he says, nodding slowly to turn back. 

 

“He’ll be back later though,” Mr. Weston calls to him as he faces him. “It shouldn’t take too long.” 

 

“Okay,” he nods. “Thanks Mr. Weston.”

 

“Sure, Preston,” he responds and he goes to Sarah’s places, a little sulkily the entire time. Sarah grunts a hello as he lets himself to her garage, the place usually open all day. 

 

“What’s up, Pres?” She asks with a wrench in her mouth, beckoning him to come forward. He goes, taking his spot as her appointed extra set of hands to get what she can’t. “Levi and Brody went somewhere to do something. I don’t know - their dad said they’ll be back later.”

 

She lets out a murmur that sounds like “mhm.” He takes his spot on the empty spot of her desk, sitting on it and tapping things on the desk, or taking his phone out to play games while he waits. 

 

“I just wish he would have told me, you know” he says. “I mean, I don’t care where he goes but like, a text would be nice.” 

 

“Hand me the torque,” she follows shortly, holding her hand out. She looks up as he passes it to her, holding his gaze while she twists. “Have you considered talking to him? About, you know, this crush?”

 

“That's ridiculous,” he sputters. “You have a crush on him!" He continues, looking away from her face where she’s got nothing but a look of blankness and a raised eyebrow.

 

“It's fine if you do. You're not going to go anywhere if you don't say anything though. Sometimes, you have to tell people these things and you're going in blind.”

 

“But what if he doesn't feel the same way?”

 

“Then it's his own problem. You’re very sweet Preston. Anyway would be lucky to have you.” 

 

“Thank you?” 

 

“You’re welcome,” she nods. “Now when you see him, tell him that. Because if you come to my garage to mope, how do we get any work done?”

 

He laughs a little, Sarah punching his arm lightly. 

 

\+ 

 

He calls him at around closer to the evening when Sarah’s taking apart a motorcycle engine. She shoos him away as he takes the text:  **see u at the beach?**

 

**yes** , he types back. 

 

He runs to the sandwich place before he gets to the beach, getting something for him and Brody. He can’t decide between roasted turkey or a melted BLT so he takes one of each and something for himself. He takes the bottled waters and chips to shove them in the bag and all but runs the entire way to the beach, the sound of a few other Summer Cove kids hanging out on the shore telling him that the beach during the summer is never a quiet affair. Brody stands in a red plaid shirt, waving to him as he gets to the entrance.

 

“Hey,” he says breathless.

 

“Hi Preston,” Brody says as he works to catch his breath, his own heart working in triple overtime. He extends the bag of food towards him. “Have you eaten?” 

 

“Not really,” he shrugs, taking the bag from him and gesturing him to sit down. 

 

“How was your day?” He asks, taking his own tuna avocado sandwich out. “There’s turkey or BLT, I didn’t know which one you wanted.” 

 

“Thanks dude,” Brody grins, his heart flipping wildly. They eat quietly for a bit, the sound of their chewing what he focuses on, along with the fluttering of his heart and the ocean. They’re really close together, a few millimeters separating them. He tries not to focus on that too much, works on keeping his composure together.

 

“I wanted to talk to you,” Preston says as he balls up the paper of his sandwich. “You guys have been such good friends to me. All of you. But you always hung out with me. You do tricks for me. And I really like it when you come around to spend time.”

 

He turns to him, tilting his head as Brody laughs softly. “Levi told me I wasn’t as obvious as I should have been but, I like you.” 

 

“Is that why… you were gone now?” He questions, refusing to let himself look at Brody unless he wanted to tackle him back onto the sand. He can feel Brody’s nod, the tap he places at his cheek. 

 

“So I guess I called you here because I wanted to know if you like me too,” he question. He turns to him quickly, the millimeters nonexistent as he responds. 

 

“I really like you,” he says quickly. “And I hoped you like me too.” 

 

“I do,” Brody says quietly. He leans across the space, touching his cheek. He closes the gap between them, pressing a featherlight kiss across his lips. Brody laughs, pulling him into a hug as he throws them both back onto the beach. 

 

His heart flutters again, but less of nervousness and more like it’s finally settled down. 


End file.
